Brown gets Sirius on Raiders

Transcription of an interview with Tim Brown by hosts Adam Schein and Rich Gannon on Sirius Satellite Radio:

Q: If you reached out to Al Davis, what would you tell Al about how to fix the Oakland Raiders?

Brown: I think it’s pretty simple, man. I think he really just needs a football guy in there to help him out. The one thing I tell people about Al Davis, there’s no doubt – and Rich, I’m sure, can vouch for this – Al Davis knows football. It’s not a matter of him not knowing football. I can remember even going back to my rookie year sitting at the Super Bowl with him in the booth, the great game when the 49ers came back and beat the Bengals, and he called that last drive play by play. And he kept asking me, ‘What do you think Timma,’ he calls me Timma, ‘What do you think on this play, Timma?’ And I would say, ‘Slant to Jerry Rice.’ [He’d say,] ‘No, they’re going to throw it to Roger Craig.’ Boom. And he went all the way down the field doing that.

That really convinced me that this guy knows football for sure.’ I think now what is happening is you have guys in the locker room that just don’t get it. They don’t understand. And certainly, the way the thing ended. I leave sort of unexpectedly. Jerry Rice wants out. Rich gets hurt. Jerry Porter wants out. Charles Woodson wanted out. You had a lot of guys trying to get out of the organization or leaving the organization unexpectedly. And that’s hard to do anytime you have veteran football players who have been great for the organization. When they get out like that, when they leave unexpectedly, it can be a very difficult thing to recover from. And I just don’t think they have recovered. They don’t have great veteran leadership and I think it’s very safe to say that. It’s a team that is talented but they just don’t have the leadership, I believe, to take them to the next level.

Q: Your evaluation of JaMarcus Russell?

Brown: When you look at JaMarcus, you know, the Raiders sort of called me unofficially before they drafted him and they asked me what did I think? And I told them then that I didn’t think this guy was a player. I thought it would take three to four years before he developed because I was at that LSU-Notre Dame game and I watched this guy intently warming up and throwing balls before the game and during the game and what I saw was not an NFL quarterback. It was a sandlot player, a guy who can go back there, pat the ball five times and then throw it with that velocity he has in his arm.

But, Rich, you know better than me, you don’t have five pats in the NFL. You’ve got about a pat and a half and then somebody’s about to take your head off. And when he tried to throw the ball on time it came out like a rocket. So I thought it would take significant time for this guy to develop how to drop back and throw the ball, a catchable ball that a receiver could maneuver and go on with. So I’m not surprised what has happened with him. You throw in the fact that, from what I hear, he doesn’t have the great work ethic that every quarterback has to have, that’s going to equal failure in the NFL any day of the week.

Q: Evaluation of Darrius Heyward-Bey?

Brown: When it comes to Heyward-Bey, I’ve seen Al do this several times. He had Sam Graddy, he had Alexander Wright, James Jett turned out to be a decent player for them, played 10 years and made some incredible plays, and I’m sure Al sees Heyward-Bey as being a guy who can do the same things. The only problem, what happened was they didn’t have a guy who was ‘the guy’ at the receiver position. If they would have had that then they could have hid him a little more and gave him a time to get right.

But being that they didn’t have that in place already, all the focus was on him and then all the other receivers that came out this year, you know, you have [Michael] Crabtree coming in very late and dwarfing Heyward-Bey’s numbers by so many. I think it just made it look like an even worse pick than everybody thought it was already. So I think this kid will develop into something. Obviously he has some talent but he really had some problems catching the ball. Watching him on television I think he really had some perception problems picking up the ball and until they get that straightened out I think it’s going to be long, long career for him.

Q: On wanting to work with young Raiders receivers:

Brown: I would love to do it and I’ve said that. I’ve reached out to them and said, ‘Hey, give me a couple days with this guy and I can give you a real assessment of where he is and we go from there.’ I’m on my way right now to work with a couple of young college guys, [Kansas WR] Dez Brisco and [Brandon] LaFell out of LSU. I would love to be able to pass on what God blessed me with to these younger guys but sometimes it’s a lot more difficult than we think it is.

Q: What’s the Raiders’ reaction when you say you want to work with these guys?

Brown: Well, you know, everybody says ok but the phone never rings. … I’m never going to step on anybody’s toes. I’ll throw the offer out there and I’m not asking to get paid for it or anything. I just don’t like, my name is so synonymous with the Raiders, that to hear people week in and week out dogging this organization, it’s very hurtful to me. It’s something that I have to deal with. So I have a vested interest in seeing this thing get turned around.

Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer

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BY the way, I have done nothing to be banned for. I made a screen name and posted. It is not my fault there is a glitch in the system.

SnB offense defense specialteams

When talk of the draft comes up…most of the people will post who they would draft and then end it by saying something like

“it doesn’t matter..Davis will draft (fill in the blank)

If you discuss free agency…the conversation will lead back to Davis too.

I wish we could talk about the players, or draft and all…but Davis so dominates this team and the team is losing and losing badly

http://www.Move2Alameda.com KoolKell

BY the way, I have done nothing to be banned for. I made a screen name and posted. It is not my fault there is a glitch in the system.
—————————
You’re a weak-minded coward if you can’t stand up under your own name.

http://none The Real MaddenRaider

I agree SnB, but you have to admit there is a lot of crap that MR pulls in here to spite people and KK post a lot of political crap. Also he is MR’s sidekick. DO they really contribute to the blog?

RaiderLen

Happy New Year to All
It’s good to read that the “regulars” are still on their games.

Sad that AL runs ALL concerend through the ringer.

I appreciate and respect the contributions Al has made to the NFL on and off the field.

Mostly in the 20th century.

It’s time for Al to step aside, or acknowledge that He needs help in the Football Operations portion of the Franchise.

Otherwise, more of the same old stuff, and more of the same old stuff from the “regulars”.

The Raiders have circuled the drain, and are now on their way out to the waste treatment plant.

What a shame. Tough to witness, knowing it can be fixed if an old man would simply acknowledge, He’s not as young as He used to be.

http://www.Move2Alameda.com KoolKell

That’s the thing about you Davis worshipers. You can’t make a argument or deny the facts, so you resort to name calling, and name stealing, stalking etc. Weak.

http://sportmag.us/images/Lester_Hayes_November_1981.jpg RaiderDogg

OG is that you?

Raider guy

You know, I think that may be what is happening as we speak. Al is talking to cable about what kind of team he wants and then they are discussing possible gm’s to make it happen. It could be…right? It could be…

http://sportmag.us/images/Lester_Hayes_November_1981.jpg RaiderDogg

KoolKell Says:
January 14th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
That’s the thing about you Davis worshipers. You can’t make a argument or deny the facts, so you resort to name calling, and name stealing, stalking etc. Weak.”

Name calling: The next best thing to being right!

Rayda23059

SnB, talking about players, draft and all is still interesting because we all learn from eachother. True, Al will do what he does, and he is a more interesting topic right now especially.

SnB offense defense specialteams

I am indifferent to the political stuff and tend to stay away from it. Therefore, I don’t have a comment one way or another.

All I am saying is that focus and discussion on Al Davis is more than appropriate given the circumstances.

Its not like we are Patriots fans complaining or, hell, even Bengals fans upset that we lost in the 1st round.

Anyway…what do I think needs to happen:

1. Hire a General Manager and give him authority on football decisions

2. Find a head coach that believes in the concepts that the Raiders favor….and give that coach the freedom to do what he has to do to manage the roster and starting lineup and have real input into the draft

3. Let head coach pick his staff from Coordinators to Strength and Conditioning

4. Focus the early rounds on O-Line and D-Line and nothing else

5. Trade for or sign in free agency a veteran MLB that is proven and is a leader

6. Have the coordinators take direction from the head coach and no one else

7. Name Michael Bush the FULL TIME starter at running back with DMAC in to spell him

8. Turn DMAC into a Percy Harvin type player (isn’t that something that Harvin was a rookie?) that’s how a 1st round pick is supposed to help the team

9. Keep Fargas but limit his role to spot duty

10. Name Louis Murphy and Chaz Schilens the starters (PERIOD)

11. Restructure Huff’s contract or trade him..he is not an elite player

12. Have Gradkowski, Losman, JaDavis and another veteran have a no-holds barred competition…if JaDavis can’t win the starting job or shows up out of shape etc…cut him

13. I really don’t know what to do about DHB…what a horrible pick

14. Re-sign Richard Seymour

Those are a few things I would do

http://www.Move2Alameda.com KoolKell

Yeah, sounds like Oakglen.

http://none slvrnblaktilidi

Nice post SnB. KK, more of the same crap.

Rayda23059

SnB offense defense specialteams Says:
January 14th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
I am indifferent to the political stuff and tend to stay away from it. Therefore, I don’t have a comment one way or another.

All I am saying is that focus and discussion on Al Davis is more than appropriate given the circumstances.

Its not like we are Patriots fans complaining or, hell, even Bengals fans upset that we lost in the 1st round.

Anyway…what do I think needs to happen:

1. Hire a General Manager and give him authority on football decisions

2. Find a head coach that believes in the concepts that the Raiders favor….and give that coach the freedom to do what he has to do to manage the roster and starting lineup and have real input into the draft

3. Let head coach pick his staff from Coordinators to Strength and Conditioning

4. Focus the early rounds on O-Line and D-Line and nothing else

5. Trade for or sign in free agency a veteran MLB that is proven and is a leader

6. Have the coordinators take direction from the head coach and no one else

7. Name Michael Bush the FULL TIME starter at running back with DMAC in to spell him

8. Turn DMAC into a Percy Harvin type player (isn’t that something that Harvin was a rookie?) that’s how a 1st round pick is supposed to help the team

9. Keep Fargas but limit his role to spot duty

10. Name Louis Murphy and Chaz Schilens the starters (PERIOD)

11. Restructure Huff’s contract or trade him..he is not an elite player

12. Have Gradkowski, Losman, JaDavis and another veteran have a no-holds barred competition…if JaDavis can’t win the starting job or shows up out of shape etc…cut him

13. I really don’t know what to do about DHB…what a horrible pick

14. Re-sign Richard Seymour

Those are a few things I would do

—–
I can’t argue with any of that logic. I’m sure you also have an opinion on special teams (punt and kickoff returners). This was an especial area of pain for me to watch this past year. If injuries continue to plague us, we need a contingency plan. The fact that we didn’t have one this year was a bad, bad move. We also need a stadium. Demo existing structure and rebuild a football only stadium. Move the A’s to a new site, preferably in Oaktown. Fire Herrera would also be a priority.